Joseph Young

Joseph Young (born 1982, in Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA) is an American orchestra conductor. Biography Joseph Young serves as the Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of Ensembles for the Peabody Conservatory, Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra – USA at Carnegie Hall, and sits on the board of New Music, USA. He studied conducting at Peabody Conservatory under Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar, graduating in 2009. Young participated in a conducting workshop at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and subsequently became a conducting student of Marin Alsop. In the 2021-2022 season, Young traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa to inaugurate the newly formed Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra and led the premiere of William Menefield and Sheila Williams' Fierce with the Cincinnati Opera. Other recent engagements include the Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (Portugal), among others in the United States and Europe. In January 2019, Young first guest-conducted the Berkeley Symphony, as an emergency substitute conductor. Based on this concert, 3 months later, the Berkeley Symphony announced the appointment of Young as its next music director, effective with the 2019-2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. This appointment marks Young's first music directorship. In July 2022, the Berkeley Symphony announced the extension of Young's contract as music director through the 2024-2025 season.